• Hey everyone, staff have documented a list of banned content and subject matter that we feel are not consistent with site values, and don't make sense to host discussion of on Famiboards. This list (and the relevant reasoning per item) is viewable here.
  • Do you have audio editing experience and want to help out with the Famiboards Discussion Club Podcast? If so, we're looking for help and would love to have you on the team! Just let us know in the Podcast Thread if you are interested!

StarTopic Future Nintendo Hardware & Technology Speculation & Discussion |ST| (Read the staff posts before commenting!)

Reader mode
Whatever about what did or didn't happen, or what will or won't happen, my takeaway is this:

It's been a frustrating last six months for Nintendo fans with half of us desperately wanting a new machine and the other half wishing people would stop talking about it.

Well, welcome to literally all of next year.
Zelda: "This amazing game deserves to be played at more than dynamic 900p." "What seemed acceptable in 2017 now feels very dated, and it hurts the game's atmosphere."
Pikmin 4: "It's hard not to wonder how much more readable gameplay would be at a higher resolution when 100 tiny pikmin are running around the screen. Users may want to hold off for a next-gen device."

And so on and so on, with the associated seething anger from Nintendo fans who think hardware is irrelevant from software quality (which is a valid take - not taking shots at them).

It's going to be a LONG year.

As a Zelda fan, the idea that 6 years later we're going to be playing a game set in a similar map to BotW at the same visual fidelity... even as a pessimist I couldn't have thought that was a possibility.
 
Skittzo said:
I'm confused again, what conclusion are you drawing from all of this?
Click to expand...
I'm saying that we have never been able to put together a story that explained everything we had heard, and that one possibility we considered is that Drake and 2023 were not the same thing, and that we should consider setting our expectations tempered so we weren't disappointed by whatever was coming when it wasn't Drake.

Cancellation of the 2023 device is obviously much much more disappointing than its specs falling under Drake, and I'm sorry for anyone who feels jerked around or upset, but this was not a totally unforeseen possibility. I, for better or worse, feel somewhat responsible for the expectation setting in the thread, and am sorry for anything who feels jerked around. And maybe am, at the same time, kinda upset at the level of toxicity that comes from folks who were here when we openly discussed the chance a situation like this might be occurring.
 
That Nvidia leak is undeniably real info. It doesn't mean they this specific machine will release, nor that such release was bound to happen within the next 15 months. It just meant that at some point, Nvidia was working on it.

Here's a totally impossible to verify guess: Nintendo had, at some point, a switch prototype based on Xavier.
 
LukasManak22 said:
Let's be honest, the mid gen refresh after 6 years was weird.
Click to expand...
Absolutely. That's why (given what we knew of the specs) even in the scenario most thought it would be initially marketed as a revision and eventually take over as the successor anyway. "Third pillar" vibes.
 
I can't buy the idea that they would put out a Pro model less than 2 years before Drake, even the New 3DS -> Switch transition was longer. The only way that would make sense is if the next gen is another hard cut off, which is similarly unbelievable because Nintendo is being very cautious about generational transitions this time and cutting BC is the equivalent of slamming a big red self-destruct button
 
oldpuck said:
I'm saying that we have never been able to put together a story that explained everything we had heard, and that one possibility we considered is that Drake and 2023 were not the same thing, and that we should consider setting our expectations tempered so we weren't disappointed by whatever was coming when it wasn't Drake.

Cancellation of the 2023 device is obviously much much more disappointing than its specs falling under Drake, and I'm sorry for anyone who feels jerked around or upset, but this was not a totally unforeseen possibility. I, for better or worse, feel somewhat responsible for the expectation setting in the thread, and am sorry for anything who feels jerked around. And maybe am, at the same time, kinda upset at the level of toxicity that comes from folks who were here when we openly discussed the chance a situation like this might be occurring.
Click to expand...
Personally I think cancellation of something that is not Drake that was supposed to launch in 2023 is actually a much, much better outcome than it launching.

I'm still mostly confused about the timeline though. The leaked (and public) info about Drake suggests the chip physically exists and is likely in production. I'm not sure how we can really reconcile that with it not launching in a Nintendo product soon, since I don't really see a Shield product being able to sustain its production for the next 16+ months.
 
oldpuck said:
Literally, we were talking about this exact scenario in May as a way to explain how the damn Drake was so big


I'm sorry for folks who feel deeply let down. I'm sorry for folks who feel mislead, especially since I think some of them felt mislead by me (and I know some of my posts have been used for hoax leaks in the past).

I have spent the majority of my time in this thread trying to keep expectations in check and open to alternate possibilities, while keeping the thread data oriented. I think a lot of ya'll are smart and great, and I still enjoy playing the tech analysis game with ya'll. But this pile on is... a lot. Hopefully the temperature comes down.
Click to expand...
It doesn't work that way that you can just duct-tape some tensor cores on to Maxwell and magically have dlss. It has to be Turing at least.
 
oldpuck said:
I'm saying that we have never been able to put together a story that explained everything we had heard, and that one possibility we considered is that Drake and 2023 were not the same thing, and that we should consider setting our expectations tempered so we weren't disappointed by whatever was coming when it wasn't Drake.

Cancellation of the 2023 device is obviously much much more disappointing than its specs falling under Drake, and I'm sorry for anyone who feels jerked around or upset, but this was not a totally unforeseen possibility. I, for better or worse, feel somewhat responsible for the expectation setting in the thread, and am sorry for anything who feels jerked around. And maybe am, at the same time, kinda upset at the level of toxicity that comes from folks who were here when we openly discussed the chance a situation like this might be occurring.
Click to expand...
I don't think bringing up possibilities was ever the problem. the problem is that NateDrake being contradictory which lead to confusion. if him or anyone else said that hardware in question was drake, we wouldn't be in this situation. the lack of clarity is what's causing this, not people railing against others who said cancellation was possible
 
I want that hour of reading back.

But at least the Pro vs. New hardware cycle debate might finally be over with, so I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
 
YolkFolk said:
Just think of how cool the ‘real’ Switch 2 will be.

The hype starts right here:

Series S power
DLSS 4.0
Higher Res screen (1080p min)
Likely move on from the OG joy con
Click to expand...
Huh?

We still know what the chip is, that hasn't changed.

I feel like a lot of you guys are not properly reading the new developments.
 
So the only thing that was meaningfully gleaned from the DF announcement was:

"It's not a mid-gen refresh. i.e. It's not a Switch Pro."

From what I gather:
-Drake is still in the cards
-Drake is taped out
-Based on Linux tests, Drake has higher clocks than expected,or at least isn't feasable in an 8nm node without being really big
-It is no longer being marketed as a mid-gen refresh (or if there were any plans, it is now solidly being marketed as a successor)
-DF's announcement isn't an indicator of a delay and no new dates are being confirmed.

Also what's with all the green text?
 
Hidden04 said:
The factory worker said a new switch model was beginning production in January, and I still believe in that info. We won't have to wait long to see if that information is accurate.
Click to expand...
that's the spirit!

i won't have anyone besmirching our fine factory Uncles.
 
SiG said:
So the only thing that was meaningfully gleaned from the DF announcement was:

"It's not a mid-gen refresh. i.e. It's not a Switch Pro."

From what I gather:
-Drake is still in the cards
-Drake is taped out
-Based on Linux tests, Drake has higher clocks than expected,or at least isn't feasable in an 8nm node without being really big
-It is no longer being marketed as a mid-gen refresh (or if there were any plans, it is now solidly being marketed as a successor)
-DF's announcement isn't an indicator of a delay and no new dates are being confirmed.

Also what's with all the green text?
Click to expand...
Yeah, people are overreacting, this hardware always seemed like a Switch 2, not a mid-gen refresh.
 
We'll see soon enough: did Zelda marketing get delayed because of new hardware, or just because it's coming in super hot like Splatoon 3 did? That's enough of a 2023 answer for me right there. Something's coming though, the question is how long do I have to put up playing games that would've been great on Switch 2 on my PC instead =P .
 
Oregano said:
Have you seen the price of the Steam Deck in Japan?

Hint: You can buy an OLED Switch AND a Switch Lite for the price of the cheapest Deck.
Click to expand...
I mean I know they aren't Nintendo, and they are definitely "enthusiast hardware" but when Square is promoting their FFVII Remake PC release with Steam Deck compatibility and PC Gaming growing fast in Japan - I could see it doing well to an extent with the handheld hardcore (not outselling Switch ofc)
 
0
Kenka said:
Yeah, if even the concept of the new console is unclear yet to Nate, then we can safely say it's still in the oven at a fundamental level and won't come out next year.

But putting Nate aside, I think DF's reaction today is even more telling. They simply don't have anything to communicate about the new Switch and that's a telltale sign that the device isn't anywhere ready. Hell, they even mentioned Nintendo being probably nervous (timestamp : 53:15). Things in the background might not go as smoothly as I have imagined.
Click to expand...

They didn't say they were nervous because of how development was going though, they said because of the transition between N64 to GameCube, Wii to Wii U, DS to 3DS didn't go well.

Nintendo is very likely scared to make a mistake that will hurt Switch's 2 sales.

That's why a part of me thinks the name alone will be safe (Switch 2) and not Super Switch or anything that could cause confusion.
 
Last edited:
Skittzo said:
Huh?

We still know what the chip is, that hasn't changed.

I feel like a lot of you guys are not properly reading the new developments.
Click to expand...

We think we know but it’s not a guarantee.

The timeline of drake makes no sense for a console releasing maybe 2 years from now. Hell, in a late 2024 release scenario this SoC could even end up less impressive than the OG Switch was in 2017 considering other advancing mobile tech.
 
Zelda has launched with new hardware in the past so I could see new hardware with Tears of the Kingdom despite a mid-gen refresh being canceled lol. That's why I think they have not shown much of Zelda yet.
 
0
YolkFolk said:
We think we know but it’s not a guarantee.

The timeline of drake makes no sense for a console releasing maybe 2 years from now. Hell, in a late 2024 release scenario this SoC could even end up less impressive than the OG Switch was in 2017 considering other advancing mobile tech.
Click to expand...
I would argue the information we have about Drake, including its timeline, is far, far more reliable than anything Nate or DF has said.

Specifically because it's straight from Nvidia.
 
People are not mentioning one interesting thing as we now know that it almost certainly isn't mid gen refresh - The device itself could be a somewhat different form factor as it's true successor, the Joy-Con can actually be different and don't need to be physically compatible with the current Switch. Of course that this successor will be BC and you can probably still connent current Joy-Cons to it wirelesly.
 
YolkFolk said:
Just think of how cool the ‘real’ Switch 2 will be.

The hype starts right here:

Series S power
DLSS 4.0
Higher Res screen (1080p min)
Likely move on from the OG joy con
Click to expand...
Imagining is nice, but why do people think Nintendo will move on from what was leaked? I think people will get exactly what was leaked, only in 2024 or 2025. Or do people think Nvidia will now work on NVN3?

Just so it's clear, I'd love it to be in 2023, in which case I'm day 0. But any later, and it really depends what the latest Steam Deck will offer me at that point.
 
LukasManak22 said:
People are not mentioning one interesting thing as we now know that it almost certainly isn't mid gen refresh - The device itself could be a somewhat different form factor as it's true successor, the Joy-Con can actually be different and don't need to be physically compatible with the current Switch. Of course that this successor will be BC and you can probably still connent current Joy-Cons to it wirelesly.
Click to expand...
The worst timeline is upon us.

Be ready for Wii U part 2.
 
0
YolkFolk said:
We think we know but it’s not a guarantee.

The timeline of drake makes no sense for a console releasing maybe 2 years from now. Hell, in a late 2024 release scenario this SoC could even end up less impressive than the OG Switch was in 2017 considering other advancing mobile tech.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily, in my opinion. If Nvidia uses a modern node and is willing to push the clocks, we could have something that does more than tickling a series S. Perfectly acceptable in 2024 or 2025, for me.
 
aus89 said:
I feel like there's gonna be a lot of Steam Decks sold in Japan in the next 12 months
Click to expand...

Not for the prices Valve have set over there; they could be classified as extortion. Over 10k yen for the best model even before the fall is ridiculous.
 
Talk of a cancelled revision would have made sense back in 2019-2020, when Nintendo had just put out new hardware that could have been used that way, but didn't. It doesn't make a lot of sense in late 2022, when all the information coming out of Nvidia for nearly a year has fairly unambiguously been about Drake, with no solid indication of any other chip that could provide a more modern featureset for Nintendo. Especially when Drake is seeming pretty done at this point with no clear non-Nintendo project lined up for it aside from a highly hypothetical new Shield.

Something isn't adding up here.
 
It feels like a majora's mask timeline and I'm fed up with the nonsense reporting, which was already :cautious: since the nvidia leak, but it seems drake is not far away either so...
 
0
If there was a mid gen refresh planned it would have likely been executed in 2020-2021 period, but the pandemic occurred, and the massive production issues would have killed any chance off. So, any chip they would have used in a mid gen refresh would have had to be done and ready by 2019-2020. Orin did not even enter production until 2022. Timeline wise some offshoot of Xavier at that point would be the logical chip.
 
I am relieved to hear they've shelved whatever this revision was supposed to be so that they can really hone in on the release of the Drake-powered Switch VR headset/TV mode hybrid in 2023.
 
0
Goodtwin said:
The good thing is we won't have long to know if 2023 is the year or not. If Nintendo doesn't show it off in the next Nintendo Direct in February, it's not coming in 2023. No chance they release Zelda TotK in May and then release new hardware a few 4-6 months later. Honestly, when you look at the specs of Drake, it seems to need a much better process than 8nm to fit the size and power draw limits of the Switch. Releasing in 2024 would benefit from reduced 4N manufacturing cost. I want Switch 2 in 2023 with Zelda TotK, but if it ends up being 2024, the specs would still be pretty awesome.
Click to expand...
Yeah, we don't have to wait long to know that H1 2023 is 100% off the table. I give another month at most before writing off a May 12 launch. But we know T239 is real and still being worked on, so will that be released as a Shield to recoup losses? But then what about Nintendo's spot in manufacturing lines? If they passed on Drake, what dev kits are out there still? Did Nintendo call them back? Was there another set of dev kits sent out for a different system before then? Are they different from the ones Nate heard about in late 2020 - mid 2021?

And if there are different dev kits, wouldn't they be on a potential third set of dev kits now? Would we be on Dane Drake Dave now? Would we or wouldn't we have heard news about this third set of dev kits making rounds or TWO older ones being withdrawn? I feel like that would create quite the hullabaloo. That would mean Nintendo and Nvidia have been floundering to develop and send out new HW for six years now.
This is a point that I'm trying to make in light of this new...information. What does this mean in all practicality? Mochizuki heard about OG NX dev kits going to more developers in Oct 2015, so about a year or so off from release. He again had hard info, naming one source, on 4K DLSS Switch kits, presumably a year and then some before release. Now we're hearing about a "mid-gen revision" that was supposed to have come out by now...but we never heard about dev kits for that system? And why are DF and Nate only talking about it now (yes, I know Nate said he was chasing it for months)? Does that actually mean dev kits were recalled even before that or was Nate talking about something else he was trying to verify?

Was Nintendo leading on and toying with third party devs for over half a year after Sep. 2021? If dev kits getting recalled and the 4K DLSS model getting pushed back or something was the case, wouldn't that be easy to determine? If Nintendo even planted a seed of doubt in developers minds that "yeah we might or might not go through with this", would devs even commit to the system? And if they did, would that not break trust for (real?) Drake or Dave dev kits?

The easy part is to accept this wrinkle and write all of it off. I'm not sure if I'm clearly articulating my point, but it would actually make things so much more interesting and hard to understand if we did. I'm trying to say that the consequences of the Drake as we currently understand it (T239, 8 A78Cs, 12 SMs, Orin) being canceled or delayed is much bigger than "oh it got shelved or pushed back".

Even if we accept that nothing is coming H1 next year, we need to start asking: What, when, and why did it happen and what's next? If something changed within the last three months...are there currently NO next-gen kits out there? Why would DF members just casually reveal "no new hardware or revision" next year in a podcast and, say, not through a Eurogamer article? Wouldn't BB or Nikkei get that info first? Shouldn't this be massive news? 2+ years of kopite7, T239, job listings, linux updates, funcle info, etc. and this is how it ends? If Nate was confident in his info, why would he retract his post? It feels like he still isn't 100% sure of his info yet (which I always expected to be revealed in a podcast episode and not in a vague Famiboards post).

Maybe people are just resting and enjoying their holidays and we'll hear early/mid January that yes, T239 Drake has been delayed...but something still doesn't feel right. All 2? of the updates we've gotten in the past several hours have been vague, while the kopite, Nvidia hack, linux updates, and (potentially) funcle have been solid and consistent.
 
0
Skittzo said:
Huh?

We still know what the chip is, that hasn't changed.

I feel like a lot of you guys are not properly reading the new developments.
Click to expand...
There are many ways to read these new developments. It's vague and open to interpretation.

Imo the a78/ dlss/ rt model that Nate has been explicit about the entire time couldn't have been anything other than Drake. It was supposed to be in a late 2022/ 2023 revision. Now that's canceled.

So maybe the project has repurposed into a 2024 device on a smaller node. Maybe the 8sm Dane that Kopite heard about really was real a thing. Maybe that theory was right all along.

Maybe as John alluded to Dane wasn't powerful enough to get ports from current gen so it was delayed/ repurposed.

Nothing is clear anymore at this point.

Edit: I know I been calling this a ridiculous conspiracy theory many times in this thread, but now it suddenly doesn't sound so far fetched anymore.
 
9-Volt said:
It's not funny at all, this is literally what happened with 3DS. Great hardware sales one year, the system completely dead the another. Stuck at 75m no matter how hard Nintendo pushed it with first party releases. Once the third party abandoned, 3DS was pronounced dead.

There's a peak for Switch hardware sales and we don't know how close we are to it right now. Nintendo does. And definitely will act accordingly.
Click to expand...
The Switch is selling numbers that the 3DS never came close to seeing in its life. Not even comparable in the slightest. There is a peak, but we won't be seeing that till 2024 at the earliest. Switch 2 has a better chance of a 2025 release than 2024 at this point.
 
0
MondoMega said:
Not for the prices Valve have set over there; they could be classified as extortion. Over 10k yen for the best model even before the fall is ridiculous.
Click to expand...
true haven't seen the prices, they don't sell anything in Australia so I don't even bother thinking about it. My point is really more, you have Square etc... publicly supporting and referencing Steam Deck, putting it front and centre at Tokyo Game Show etc... its a bit more visible than previous handheld PCs have been, and PC gaming is rising in Japan - I'm not saying theyre gonna start outselling Switch or PS5 by any means but if post Zelda software is a bit meh and theres no new hardware, could see enthusiasts wanting to play FFXVI etc... and getting a steam deck if its marketed in Japan (and they bring down the price)
 
0
Hermii said:
There are many ways to read these new developments. It's vague and open to interpretation.

Imo the a78/ dlss/ rt model that Nate has been explicit about the entire time couldn't have been anything other than Drake. It was supposed to be in a late 2022/ 2023 revision. Now that's canceled.

So maybe the project has repurposed into a 2024 device on a smaller node. Maybe the 8sm Dane that Kopite heard about really was real a thing. Maybe that theory was right all along.

Maybe as John alluded to Dane wasn't powerful enough to get ports from current gen so it was delayed/ repurposed.

Nothing is clear anymore at this point.
Click to expand...
I have trouble believing they'd be putting driver information into the Linux kernel for a chip that is now being repurposed.

I similarly have trouble believing that such a chip which is confirmed to physically exists is going to sit on shelves for more than 18 months before being launched in a product not called Shield TV.

Something is not adding up here, and I don't think the information straight from Nvidia can really be in dispute.
 
I wonder what Polygon thinks of this? I still think it makes sense for the BOTW2 timeframe so I wouldn't be surprised if the Next-Gen system launches then. The Switch brand is still very strong so I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo waited until 2024, and they still have yet to use price cuts to keep momentum up yet.
 
0
SpaceGodzilla said:
So theoretically how much of a jump between the Switch and drake can possibly be?
Click to expand...
Guess this got lost in the flurry today...
So, from piecing together what's known from the Nvidia hack and the Linux kernel commits (keep in mind that we don't know clock frequencies):

- T239/Drake's CPU core is presumed to be A78C. Reasoning: T234/Orin uses an A78 variant. Also, Linux kernel commits state 1 cluster of 8 CPU cores. There is an absence of additional code to support heterogeneous computing (mixed architectures/core types), so the likely assumption is that only 1 CPU architecture is being used. As far as off the shelf ARM cores go, A78C is the earliest that allows 1 cluster/8 cores.
Performance-wise... it varies according to the workload, but going by Geekbench 5, the A78 is about 2.5x as performant per clock as the A57 (the CPU architecture used in base Switch). Also, the base Switch uses 4 A57 cores, with 1 reserved for the Operating System and 3 used for games. With an 8 core configuration for Drake, our speculation tends towards 1 for OS/7 for games, but it's fair to consider the chance of 2 for OS/6 for games.
If you want to compare against PS4 (Jaguar) or PS5 (Zen 2): A57 should be slightly ahead of Jaguar? So A78 stays at least 2.5x performant per clock compared to the Jaguar. The A78 is also actually slightly ahead of (monolithic) Zen 2 in Geekbench 5 (again, on a per clock basis). I think that the PS4 makes 6 or 6.5 cores available for games? And apparently the PS5 makes 6.5 cores available, according to Digital Foundry's video on Gotham Knights.
Do keep in mind that Geekbench 5 is more relevant for performance as a 'general computing device' than 'dedicated gaming device'. But nevertheless, A57->A78 is a giant leap.

- The GPU is 12 SMs of the Ampere architecture, according to the Nvidia hack. Don't worry about what SMs are; just treat them as building blocks/units to roughly approximate the size. The Switch is 2 SMs of (somewhat updated) Maxwell. Right off the bat, the GPU is six times as large. If clocks are the same, that's 6x raw grunt before taking into account improvements from changes in architecture and additional features. And going from Maxwell to Ampere is a major leap in architecture and featureset.
Uh, for comparison against PS4 (GCN) or PS5 (...glorified-RDNA1?), someone else can handle that.

- As far as RAM goes, we're looking at a 128-bit bus width and most likely LPDDR5, with a long shot of LPDDR5X. To compare, the base Switch uses 64-bit LPDDR4/4X (regular 4's been phased out, so it had to change to 4X eventually; no change in clocks)
Assuming LPDDR5, we're looking at up to 102.4 GB/s memory bandwidth and a minimum quantity of 8 GB. Base Switch has bandwidth of 25.6 GB/s and a quantity of 4 GB. The memory bandwidth will go from 'is typically a bottleneck for the Switch right now' to 'depending on CPU/GPU clocks, it's probably actually fine'. And when I say minimum quantity of 8 GB, I mean that the smallest option offered by RAM manufacturers to fill a 128-bit wide bus with regular LPDDR5 is 8 GB (it'd be a pair of 64-bit 4 GB modules). Btw, the next step up is not 10, but actually 12 GB (a pair of 64-bit 6 GB modules).

- Takeaways:
You can assign Drake the task of serving as the Next Generation flagship of Switch style devices, and it is absolutely capable of executing that task.
If you want to do a comparison to other systems, I like to think of the (docked) floor as being a modernized and somewhat better PS4 (...PS4.25?), and the ceiling as 'what if the PS4 Pro's CPU didn't suck' (ie, a hypothetical PS4.5).
 
Goodtwin said:
The good thing is we won't have long to know if 2023 is the year or not. If Nintendo doesn't show it off in the next Nintendo Direct in February, it's not coming in 2023. No chance they release Zelda TotK in May and then release new hardware a few 4-6 months later. Honestly, when you look at the specs of Drake, it seems to need a much better process than 8nm to fit the size and power draw limits of the Switch. Releasing in 2024 would benefit from reduced 4N manufacturing cost. I want Switch 2 in 2023 with Zelda TotK, but if it ends up being 2024, the specs would still be pretty awesome.
Click to expand...
Yeah, we don't have to wait long to know that H1 2023 is 100% off the table. I give another month at most before writing off a May 12 launch. But we know T239 is real and still being worked on, so will that be released as a Shield to recoup losses? But then what about Nintendo's spot in manufacturing lines? If they passed on Drake, what dev kits are out there still? Did Nintendo call them back? Was there another set of dev kits sent out for a different system before then? Are they different from the ones Nate heard about in late 2020 - mid 2021?

And if there are different dev kits, wouldn't they be on a potential third set of dev kits now? Would we be on Dane Drake Dave now? Would we or wouldn't we have heard news about this third set of dev kits making rounds or TWO older ones being withdrawn? I feel like that would create quite the hullabaloo. That would mean Nintendo and Nvidia have been floundering to develop and send out new HW for six years now.
This is a point that I'm trying to make in light of this new...information. What does this mean in all practicality? Mochizuki heard about OG NX dev kits going to more developers in Oct 2015, so about a year or so off from release. He again had hard info, naming one source, on 4K DLSS Switch kits, presumably a year and then some before release. Now we're hearing about a "mid-gen revision" that was supposed to have come out by now...but we never heard about dev kits for that system? And why are DF and Nate only talking about it now (yes, I know Nate said he was chasing it for months)? Does that actually mean dev kits were recalled even before that or was Nate talking about something else he was trying to verify?

Was Nintendo leading on and toying with third party devs for over half a year after Sep. 2021? If dev kits getting recalled and the 4K DLSS model getting pushed back or something was the case, wouldn't that be easy to determine? If Nintendo even planted a seed of doubt in developers minds that "yeah we might or might not go through with this", would devs even commit to the system? And if they did, would that not break trust for (real?) Drake or Dave dev kits?

The easy part is to accept this wrinkle and write all of it off. I'm not sure if I'm clearly articulating my point, but it would actually make things so much more interesting and hard to understand if we did. I'm trying to say that the consequences of the Drake as we currently understand it (T239, 8 A78Cs, 12 SMs, Orin) being canceled or delayed is much bigger than "oh it got shelved or pushed back".

Even if we accept that nothing is coming H1 next year, we need to start asking: What, when, and why did it happen and what's next? If something changed within the last three months...are there currently NO next-gen kits out there? Why would DF members just casually reveal "no new hardware or revision" next year in a podcast and, say, not through a Eurogamer article? Shouldn't this be massive news? 2+ years of kopite7, T239, job listings, linux updates, seeming funcle info...
 
Reader mode
You must log in or register to reply here.
Please read this staff post before posting.

Furthermore, according to this follow-up post, all off-topic chat will be moderated.
Last edited:


Back
Top Bottom